So, you’re an aspiring poet. The impression I get (which may be totally off-base, in which case tell me so) is that the audience for poetry readings and that sort of thing is other poets (and the performers’ friends or family)—not the average person who just wants to be entertained or moved or provoked or amused. If other art forms were in a similar state, the only people who went to movies would be (current and aspiring) moviemakers, or at least people with a particular interest in the craft of moviemaking; the only people who read novels would be other writers; the only people who listened to music would be other musicians; the only people who watched stand-up comedy would be other comedians.
Another point: I agree that some song lyrics, rap, spoken-word performance art, poetry slams, etc. do count as poetry. But it’s all performance-based poetry. One particular kind of poetry that flourished in earlier centuries, but which we don’t see nearly as much of today, is printed poetry, designed for ordinary people to read either silently to themselves or out loud to one another. Which may be what BrainGlutton is getting at when he’s looking for poetry otehr than song lyrics.
Thanks to the internet, poetry has become more popular than ever and is accessed differently than in previous generations. Spoken word poetry is a definte genre that has increased in popularity.
Absolute Write has a very active and prolific poetry forum that has recently begun a group project called “The Blue Rock” poems. (http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=35212)
In addition there are lots of works in progress and some sites available through the individual poets signature lines. There are many print and online magazines dedicated to poetry. Is it as popular as film, TV or even short fiction. Probably not, but I wouldn’t count it dead by a longshot.